To Build a Home
by Matteoarts
Summary: Andromeda is a new beginning for all. Scott Ryder hoped to explore new frontiers, Vetra Nyx wished for a fresh start. But as complications arise, their paths will cross and they'll settle for simply finding a home. (A condensed novelization of "Mass Effect: Andromeda.")
1. A New Beginning

_Every great moment in our history began with a dream. Each bold leap forward was achieved by those willing to do anything to attain it. We are, all of us, leaving behind families… homes… the very birthplace of our species. Some for discovery, to see the unknown; others for a new start. But today, whatever our reasons, we take the first steps toward a new future for humanity. Today… we begin to make our dream reality._

 ** _\- Alec Ryder, Human Pathfinder of the Andromeda Initiative_**

* * *

The vast emptiness of space and void can only be matched in its extremity by the tenacity of humanity's drive to overcome it.

The other species had their own respective strengths, of course; turians were soldiers, salarians were scientists, asari were biotics … but humans were _pioneers._ They were dauntless, unrelenting, and utterly defiant. Where others may see an obstacle, humans saw _challenges_.

So it wasn't with any great surprise that Vetra Nyx learned of the _Hyperion's_ arrival.

That wasn't to say she wasn't shocked as a whole- the very fact that any of the Arks had been contacted was a monumental moment, one that the survivors of the Nexus hadn't believed they'd see since they'd arrived in the Heleus cluster over a year ago. But as far as _which_ Ark had arrived, she'd have been lying if her bet hadn't been on the _Hyperion._

How it got here was another question entirely. Maybe it was that obstinacy most humans possessed that propelled them forward. Maybe it was a miracle. Maybe it was simply dumb luck.

"Move it, move it!" she ordered her underlings, watching them bustle hastily to make preparations for the newcomer's arrival, moving with an energy she hadn't seen in over a year.

Whatever it was, she intended to be a part of it.

 **26 Hours Earlier, The Hyperion**

With shaking hands, Ryder lifted the cup of coffee to his lips and drank deeply.

To his right was a large monitor that kept reciting the promotional video for waking colonists, showcasing visions of paradise and various idylls. He tuned it out, finding the forced cheeriness of the voice narrating the images to contrast too heavily with his current mood.

To make a long story short, he was in no way, shape, or form, a morning person. And he'd just awoken from a six-hundred year long nap.

"Recon-Specialist Ryder?"

He looked up to see a familiar asari approaching him; Lexi T'Perro, one of the many doctors assigned to the Hyperion.

"Let's get you checked out. Look here."

She began waving a small scanner equipped with a green light in front of his face, simultaneously testing his cognitive functions while analyzing him for potential anomalies. He sat there patiently, understanding the need for such procedures but still not quite fond of them all the same.

As the monitor began to speak about golden worlds and their potential, Lexi turned to look at it with a look of distaste similar to the one he'd expressed earlier. "Makes it sound so easy, doesn't it?"

He chuckled lightly. "I don't think we came here for easy."

She sighed worriedly. "Certainly seems that way."

He caught something in her tone, something that put him on edge. "You know something?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, but he could see the tension in her shoulders as she did so. "Word came down. The Pathfinder wants you all mission-ready within the hour. Look this way …"

He grudgingly complied and followed her fingers with his eye movement while continuing to press her for information. His father had asked for them to gear up?

"Why the rush?"

"He didn't say. But something's up," she replied quietly, evidently trying to keep this information from the ears of other patients in the cryo bay.

In turning his gaze, he inadvertently saw another member of the Pathfinder team on a nearby bed; Liam, his name was. He was darker-skinned, a year or two older, and far more idealistic. Ryder hadn't worked with him too often, but he seemed like a decent enough guy. As the other man noticed him watching, he grinned and gave a friendly wave to Ryder which the latter reciprocated.

"Okay, everything checks out," Lexi remarked. "Just one more thing before I send you on your way … let's test your SAM implant. SAM, are you monitoring?"

There was a beat of silence, and her brow arched upward in curiosity. "SAM, are you online-?"

A blue hologram of abstract shape suddenly appeared in the cryo bay's and cut her off midsentence. _"Yes, Dr. T'Perro. Good morning, Ryder. Are you feeling well?"_

He smirked at the monotonous intonation of SAM's voice. "Might need a few minutes to clear my head- but I'm ready to get to it."

" _Readings confirmed. I detect an increased level of adrenaline in your system. The neural implant is functioning properly."_

He began to work off some of that pent-up energy my rotating his shoulders in circles. "Yeah, caffeine always did make me a little jumpy."

Lexi seemed satisfied at last. "You're all done. Let's get you on your way."

She extended a hand with which to help him to his feet. He gratefully accepted, and she directed his attention to another stasis pod a few feet away near another bed. "Though you may want to hang around while we revive your sister. It always helps to see a familiar face-"

Without warning, the lights began to flicker. An ominous rumbling noise could be heard throughout the ship, as well as a faint vibration that reverberated in the floor.

"I don't like the sound of that," Ryder muttered, looking around to make sure that it was over.

Unfortunately, his instincts were right. The _Hyperion_ suddenly shook violently as it seemed to hit something, and sent both people and equipment crashing to the floor. Lexi and Ryder were no exception, and found themselves trying to push themselves off the floor. He looked up in shock to see his sister's pod beginning to slide along the floor towards them, quickly gaining speed-

A moment before it would have crushed them, the artificial gravity ceased to function and the pod lifted from the ground. Ryder reached out and grabbed Lexi's head to force her down as he ducked, barely managing to keep the two of them from being decapitated by the rogue pod as it soared by them and impacted against the far wall. Unfortunately, Newton's third law ensured that they bounced off the floor and began to float upwards as well.

"What's happening?" Lexi asked urgently, her voice maintaining that steady calm that doctors used when under pressure.

"Just hang on!" he called back, a little less calm about the situation. He was already disoriented from being awoken from stasis, and the lack of gravity was only complicating matters. He was trying to keep a level head, but it was hard when the very concept of 'level' had been thrown away.

From the loudspeakers in the room, he could hear the Captain and repair technicians trying to get a hold on the situation.

" _Engineering, report!"_

" _Gravity in cryo bay is offline!"_

"I'm almost inside- hang on!"

That last voice struck a familiar memory with him- another member of the Pathfinder team. Sure enough, he watched as Cora, second-in-command of the Pathfinder team, floated through the open entrance of the bay and maneuvered to access the control panel on the wall. Though she was several years his senior, she was still on the younger side to be next in line for command- her youthfully styled and blonde-dyed hair was enough indication of that.

However, she'd certainly proven herself to be quite capable- her actions at hand were showing just that. "This is Cora, I'm at the cryo bay! Brace for a reset!"

With a flip of several switches and the press of a button, gravity suddenly returned to the room. Ryder was ready for it, holding his hands out in front of him to catch himself. It seemed that Liam had not been so lucky- he'd been turned on his back, and so came down with a painful yelp without any means to break his fall.

Ryder couldn't worry about that now. He quickly stood up and focused on Cora. "What happened?"

"We're not sure, sensors are scrambled," she replied frustratedly. Her voice became lighter as she smirked at him. "But it's good to see you're up- feels like centuries since we spoke."

Ryder rolled his eyes at the small joke, but couldn't keep himself from reciprocating the smile. "At least your awful sense of humor seems to be intact," he jabbed, eliciting a small chuckle from her.

The moment didn't last. _"This is the Pathfinder. Mission teams, continue preparations. Kosta, Harper, Ryders, report to the bridge._

At the mention of their names, Cora and Ryder became professional once more. As a recon-specialist, his mind was practically hard-wired to be tactical at this point-

"Uh, we have a problem over here. It's Sara Ryder."

They both froze at the mention of his sister's name, and turned to look at the stasis pod which had nearly crushed him and Lexi. The asari was already rushing over to get a diagnostic.

"Is she okay?"

"It looks like the impact caused a power surge through some core systems," Lexi answered Cora with a furrowed brow. She looked at the technician who had called out the issue. "Did the seals break?"

"No, physical integrity looks good- there, the power cycle is green."

"No structural damage to the pod … all connections check out."

"It's just bad timing then. An interruption in the respiratory cycle, maybe?"

Ryder had just about enough of everyone discussing his sister as though he wasn't there. Stepping forward, he grabbed Lexi's attention. "Is Sara okay?"

"She's fine," the doctor assured him, though her expression was sympathetic. "Her vitals are strong, but the revival procedure was interrupted."

He nodded, placing his emotions aside to deal with the problem objectively. "What's the prognosis?"

"The revival process could take quite a bit longer than normal. SAM?"

" _My connection to Sara's implant was suspended. However, her pulse, respiration, and brain activity are all normal."_

Ryder breathed a sigh of relief- less than half an hour awake, and he'd been close to losing a family member. If the rest of the Heleus cluster carried on like this …

"To be on the safe side, we'll need to keep her in a low-level coma for a while," Lexi continued, "then let her body regain consciousness naturally. She'll be fine."

"Glad to hear it," he replied gratefully, and let his mind gradually shift focus to the mission at hand once more. Cora noticed the look, and waved thankfully to the asari. "Thanks Lexi, keep us updated. You ready, Ryder?"

"I'm ready," he confirmed, and walked with her to the exit. He didn't know what had caused such a chaotic incident- maybe it had been a miscalculation in navigation, and they were stranded adrift. Maybe they were under attack from an advanced native race. Maybe it was simply bad luck.

Whatever it was, he intended to be a part of it.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Been wanting to write something about Mass Effect for a while, needed to get it out of my system. Not sure how often this will update, but I'll be sure to get around to it when I can. Got a number of other projects like GND to take care of.**_


	2. Habitat 7

They'd said they were ready for anything- but Ryder had a feeling that their current scenario might be the exception.

Once they'd convened on the bridge, the full team had been assembled; Ryder, Cora, Liam, Dr. Carlyle (the team medic), and several other members whom he hadn't been fully acquainted with yet. These included a few names like Greer, Kirkland, and Fisher, but he hadn't had the chance to associate any faces to said names- the situation had been far more urgent than they'd first realized.

Captain Dunn had explained to his father that Habitat 7- the designated planet for human colonists of the Andromeda Initiative- no longer matched the initial scans taken of it back in the Milky Way. It had been a 'golden world' then, a category reserved for only the most optimal conditions of viability. Now, it looked dead and gray, storms coating its atmosphere relentlessly.

On top of that, the jarring impact on the Hyperion had been caused by a seemingly solidified form of dark energy that branched off into tendrils and clusters all throughout the space around them. Navigating out of it had been difficult- its network of deadly tentacles was quite expansive. Whatever had happened in the last six hundred years, the Hyperion was the one paying for it now.

At the insistence of his father, Captain Dunn had reluctantly agreed to let them investigate further and see first-hand whether Habitat 7 was still a potential living space or not. So after gearing up and meeting in the hangar to board their two allotted shuttles, they were finally en route to the planet.

Ryder stood near the back of the ship's port-side, Liam standing next to him. Both of them gazed out the window into the void, marveling in both awe and apprehension at the crystallized appearance the dark energy took on.

"Wow, will you look at that?" Liam breathed, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Whatever it is, it stopped the Hyperion in its tracks," Ryder agreed, his voice matching his companion's tone almost identically.

" _It appears to be an unstable mass of dark energy,"_ SAM provided redundantly, causing him to roll his eyes. He was well aware of the cloud's composition- he was more curious as to _why_ it was there- had it been a defensive network? A weapon? And who created it?

" _Steer clear of it,"_ he heard his father call out from the other shuttle, evidently having listened in on the comms.

"Getting some chop here," Fisher, their shuttle pilot, called out.

" _Gravity Anomalies detected."_

"I'll see if I can even it out-"

"My stomach would appreciate that."

After a few moments, the rocking of the ship faded away. "We're clear. Accelerating to cruising speed."

"Hard to believe we're finally doing this," Liam said quietly. Though Ryder could definitely detect anxiety in his voice, it was overridden by the sheer amount of excitement also present.

"Sure beats reading the brochures," he joked, hoping to alleviate some of the tension. What followed next ensured that his effort was in vain.

"Hang on, initiating atmospheric entry!" Kirkland yelled over the rising noise outside the shuttle.

"Flight guidance is scrambled!"

"It'll pass!"

"The controls are fighting me-"

" _Adjust approach vector three degrees to starboard."_

The clouds in front of the shuttles viewports finally dissipated, and everyone was able to see clearly what they were dealing with exactly.

"We're through- holy …"

" _Shuttle-2, are you seeing this?"_ Ryder heard Cora whisper over the comms. He thumbed his omnitool to respond.

"Copy that. Doesn't look like a golden world from here."

The skies were a dull gray, punctuated by streaks of intense lightning. He couldn't see the ground from here due to a thick layer of fog or mist that coated the surface and rose high into the air, only allowing the peaks of what were likely mountains to remain visible.

"Ionization levels are rising-"

" _Stay on course to the landing zone,"_ came the commanding voice of his father, urging them forward in spite of the apparent danger.

" _Oxygen levels are below minimum human requirements,"_ SAM declared, further driving home the truth that they already knew, but refused to acknowledge; Habitat 7 was dead.

"Is this the right planet? I thought we had this all worked out …" Fisher muttered, trailing off in obvious disappointment to what they'd been faced with.

" _Keep it tight, Shuttle-2."_

Liam noticed something outside the viewport, and tapped Ryder repeatedly with the back of his hand to get his attention.

"Uh … the mountains are floating."

As ridiculous as that sounded, Liam was right- large chunks of rock and mountain-sized cliffs were suspended in the air without any apparent means to do so. Ryder could only assume that there was something interfering with the gravity-

"Look! Port Side!"

Everyone turned their attention to the left and drew a collective gasp. The ground was finally visible, but only due to what sat upon it- in the distance, they could see a massive black superstructure glowing with blue light and energy. Its exterior was angular and precise, more along the lines of an artificial artist's vision rather than an organic.

" _That_ _ **has**_ _to be advanced engineering,"_ Cora blurted out, unable to contain her wonder.

" _Hyperion, this is the Pathfinder,"_ he heard his father transmit, _"We've got evidence of an alien civilization."_

At the revelation, the tactician in Ryder couldn't help but be brought to the surface. "Has anyone seen us?" he muttered, wondering whether they should be concerned about stealth at this point.

"What if they're not friendly?" Liam asked, apparently mirroring his thoughts.

" _We stick to contact protocol,"_ his father ordered firmly. _"No use of deadly force unless hostile intent is clear."_

An incessant beeping at the front of the ship drew his attention away from his father and towards the pilot console. Fisher noticed it too. "Shit! Ionization just spiked-"

He never got to finish his sentence. A bolt of lightning appeared to strike the port-side of the shuttle, and the next thing Ryder was aware of was a gaping hole where the window had once been. Parts of the floor and roof had been blown apart as well. He frantically assessed the damage only to see Liam struggling to hang on to the edge of the hole as the air pressure threatened to suck him out completely.

"LIAM!" he yelled, hanging onto what he could as he stepped forward and tried to reach the other man.

"RYDER!" Liam yelled back, crying for help. The situation had drained them of all rational thought as fear coursed through their veins and reduced their vocabulary to each other's names. Ryder extended his hand, now only a few inches away. Liam did the same, wrapping his arm around Ryder's wrist and trying to-

Something erupted in the ship itself, and the two were wrenched apart as the entire shuttle tore itself in two. The last thing Ryder saw was Liam shooting off into the sky to parts unknown, and a flower of orange blossoming from the remains of the shuttle before his gaze turned downward and he saw the several thousand foot fall that awaited him.

He screamed in panic as he desperate tried to activate his armor's thrusters to slow his descent- no luck.

" _Acceleration increasing."_

"NO KIDDING!" Ryder yelled at SAM, the AI's nonchalant tone only increasing his anger and anxiety in the situation.

" _Your thrusters are malfunctioning."_

"Get them working!" he ordered, calming down enough to begin thinking of various ways to survive this.

" _Approaching terminal velocity."_

"SAM!"

As he flipped again in the air, he caught what looked to be a somewhat stable ledge several hundred feet below him. Hurriedly, he tried over and over to ignite his thrusters …

Finally, something sparked and his thrusters came to life for a few precious seconds. Using them to guide himself over a few feet until he was close enough to reach out and touch a rock wall, then immediately aimed them downward. It wasn't much, but it slowed his descent enough to avoid being killed by the impact.

Even still, the slam against the rock jarred his skull enough to render his vision bleary and unclear. He became aware of not much else other than the faint sensation of sliding down the sheer face and tumbling a few times once he reached the bottom before coming to a rest on his back. The next stimuli was far more frightening- the hiss of air escaping.

He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision, and saw that the front of his helmet's faceplate had been broken. There were cracks running in a spiderweb pattern over the surface, something that would likely mean death with what SAM had said of the planet's atmosphere composition earlier. No oxygen, no more Ryder.

"Ah, shit …"

Forcing himself to move slowly and carefully rather than panicking and making the situation worse, he reached his left arm up and brought up his omnitool. Using his spare reserves of omnigel, he began to spray it over the visor and layer it on until it sealed the cracks and the hissing finally came to a stop.

Once he was sure that the apparatus was no longer in danger of failing, he let himself breathe deeply and lie flat on the ground in relief.

His desire to be a part of all this was decreasing with every new encounter Heleus threw at them.

Groaning, he rolled over and pushed himself up onto his feet. Now standing, he took a moment to simply look out at the landscape and observe just what kind of hell they'd walked into.

A few plants around him seemed to be dried out and brittle, their branches stretching from their base like inverted roots. Ahead of him, he could see the floating rocks and mountains that so oddly seemed just as comfortable in the air as their counterparts were on the ground. And above, the sky remained dim and foreboding.

"This is Ryder. Come in."

He received no answer.

"Hyperion? SAM? Anyone there?"

Again, nothing but static accompanied his distress call. He was so focused on it, he almost didn't hear the crashing of footsteps from behind him. He spun around while fully expecting to see a hostile, but relaxed when he saw it was only Liam. Miraculously, it appeared that he'd survived.

"Save … your breath … Ryder," Liam gasped out, drained of his energy from running. "Comm link's trashed. I'm surprised … we aren't too."

He was glad Liam was alive, but that was no guarantee that anyone else would be as fortunate. "Did the others make it?"

"I don't know, it was all a blur," Liam choked out. "Shuttle split in two … this is like some nightmare."

Ryder swallowed hard, and stood with him as they looked out at the horror before them.

"Yeah. No way this is home."


	3. First Contact

Climbing down from the cliffs had not been an altogether easy task, but the toll it took on them was made lighter by the fact that the atmosphere seemed to be experiencing varying bouts of inconsistent gravity- hence, the floating mountains. Sometimes they felt the full weight of the gear pulling them down towards the ground, other times it was a matter of landing softly on the dirt forty feet below.

They were nearly at the bottom when Liam pointed out the smoke rising from a dip in the landscape directly in front of them. Stepping forward, the two of them were greeted with the sight of their shuttle in a rocky alcove- or what was left of it. Debris was scattered around the area, much of it on fire from the crash.

"Ryder, look- it's Fisher!" Liam exclaimed, pointing to an outcropping of rock. Indeed, he saw their shuttle Pilot sitting against the rock with his back to it, seemingly trying to remain still. Ryder tilted his head curiously, noting that Fisher's position was odd- if he needed medical attention, he shouldn't be-

Movement caught his eye, and he quickly shoved Liam down to the dirt.

"What the-?"

" _Wait!"_ Ryder whispered, falling into place next to Liam. The other man was confused, but thankfully followed his command- and not a moment too soon.

Stepping out from behind a crate was a … _thing._ Some sort of alien creature. It was bipedal, a general indicator of more advanced evolution- and any doubts were immediately dispelled upon seeing the rather lethal-looking weapon it held in its hands.

The entirety of its body was a dull gray color, with bone-like chitin growing over certain areas like an exoskeleton- it covered its arms and most of its head, leaving a small patch of leathery skin for their face. Finally, it wore some kind of suit armor which had been placed delicately over the growths on its torso and legs- so whatever it was, there was a good chance that it was militant.

As they continued to watch, another such creature stepped forward as well, seemingly searching through the wreckage of their ship for anything useful. Fisher remained hidden behind his rock, trying to steady his breathing and avoid detection from the two unknown aliens.

"Holy shit," Liam breathed. "What was first contact protocol again?"

"No deadly force unless fired upon," Ryder immediately recited, his father's years of training forcing him to react almost instinctively.

"Yeah, said no one in the field _ever,"_ Liam scoffed, his disdain for the notion all too apparent. "How do we handle it?"

Ryder narrowed his eyes at the remark, noting the brashness of Liam's disregard for what could very well just be innocent beings of an alien scouting party. "Take it easy. We only get one shot at 'hello' with these guys."

"Yeah, and Fisher gets shot in the head if we're wrong," Liam argued.

Ryder didn't know whether these aliens were hostile or not, though the guns in their hands weren't promising- but he wasn't about to let Liam start a war with a civilization they'd only met a minute ago on the basis of 'what-if's.

"Nice and easy- we only go hot if we have to."

Just because he didn't want to fight didn't mean he wouldn't, however. At his side, the comforting weight of his sidearm became a little more noticeable as he kept it holstered, but prepared to use it if need be.

Though he seemed unhappy with the decision, Liam followed Ryder's example and began to approach the two aliens with him as they held their arms out in a show of neutrality.

"Don't think they've spotted us yet," Liam muttered, his apprehension growing as they came closer.

Suddenly, one of the beings barked out a growl and pointed at Fisher's helmet sticking out from behind the rock. Both of them moved to close the gap, only to emit even more barks of surprise upon seeing Ryder and Liam walking towards them.

"Shit, they see Fisher!" Liam said, gritting his teeth. "What's the play?"

" _Niad shurid!"_

The one closer to them lifted its weapon and held it at them, seemingly waiting for them to make a move. The other stomped over towards Fisher, and Ryder attempted to defuse the situation.

"We can't understand you! We're not here to fight, that man's with us!"

To emphasize the point, he pointed towards Fisher who had remained silent up until this point, opting to watch the events before him play out rather than risk making things worse by stepping in. Now, he turned his head upwards to look at his captor with a nervous grin before attempting to stand up so he could rejoin Ryder and Liam.

" _Gosad!"_

Without warning, the alien kicked him back down to the the ground, and began stomping on his legs. Fisher screamed from the pain, and there was an audible _crack_ that echoed in the air.

"No!" Liam cried, reaching for his weapon. He was a step behind, however, as Ryder had already drawn and leveled the gun at Fisher's attacker.

Two shots were all it took to bring it down- one round caught it painfully in the shoulder, sending shards of its bony protrusions flying into the air. As it roared in anger, the next shot found its mark squarely in the alien's face, and it promptly fell backwards to land in the grass with a deadening _thump._

Its partner switched its focus to Ryder, and prepared to fire- but before it could, a flurry of slightly less accurate but far more rapid shots tore through its hands and chest. Liam continued to unload until the mag was empty, and the two of them watched as it weakly clawed at its fatal wounds before finally falling in a similar manner as the other.

Ryder released the breath he'd been holding, a bad habit he'd developed when training for high-stress situations. He forced himself to inhale deeply and let it out, trying not to let the adrenaline get to him.

"Okay. It's over."

Liam took the declaration as a cue to check on Fisher. Running over to the Pilot, he held out his omnitool and began taking scans of the other man's vitals. "Fisher, you okay?"

"So much for making p-peace with the locals," he coughed weakly, wheezing all the while. "Thanks for jumping in."

"I wish we hadn't had to," Ryder replied grimly. "The first aliens we meet, and we try to kill each other? That wasn't the plan."

"Then we need a new one," Liam snorted. "At least we know what's what. The brochures were light on aliens who want to shoot your head off."

Ryder sighed frustratedly. Liam definitely had good intentions, but his derisive attitude towards anything that didn't fit with his own preconceptions was beginning to grate on him.

"We still d-don't even know what they w-wanted," Fisher remarked.

"The way they treated you? Blood samples, I'd say. Lots of them."

"Who says we'd even understand their methods?" Ryder questioned, playing devil's advocate. "Or that they'd understand ours? It's a new galaxy- it's probably too much to expect that they'll play by Milky Way rules." He was still on the fence about the encounter, though he was certainly unhappy about the way it had turned out. He wasn't willing to assign a generalization to the species yet, but he'd definitely have his guard up next time they ran into them.

"They broke the rules of _any_ galaxy," Liam dismissed, still tending to Fisher's wounds. The pilot's leg seemed to be in bad shape. "Where are the others?"

"G-Gone. Kirkland and Greer w-went looking for help."

While Ryder had been content to let the other two do most of the talking while he checked corners and made sure they were relatively safe, he wasn't fond of the idea of staying nearby. Who knew how many others of these things the crash would attract? "Come on, we need to move."

Fisher tried to stand, and immediately cried out in pain before falling back to the ground. _"Agh_ … my leg."

Ryder saw the scans off of Liam's omnitool, and realized the man's leg had several fractures rendering him practically immobile. "Can you move? We can carry you-"

"I think it's b-broken," Fisher groaned, holding it tightly. "You guys p-push ahead and look for the others."

"You sure?" Ryder asked, furrowing his brow. He didn't want to leave the pilot defenseless if more of those things came by.

"Yeah," he grunted, "j-just find us a ride out of here- and take a f-few more of them out while you're at it."

Liam walked a few paces away to one of the bodies. Kneeling down, he set about getting a scan of it. "Whoa, take a look at this- what are they?"

Ryder checked the accompanying data. "Well, I don't have SAM here to analyze this, but it seems that they're DNA based. Their armor reads as some kind of bone- but their genetics are all over the map."

"I guess life took a different turn here, huh?" Liam remarked dryly.

Ryder jabbed his head towards a clearing on the other side of the alcove. Understanding, Liam stood up and accompanied Ryder as the two left Fisher and ventured forward.

"I hope the other team's okay," Liam murmured. Ryder had to give him credit- the man was deeply empathetic.

"We'll find them," he reassured him. "If there's anyone who knows how to survive harsh conditions on an alien world, it's gotta be my father."

Liam chuckled. "Yeah, there's a reason he's the Pathfinder. I'm sure you're right." He looked around at their vast and alien surroundings. "Well, you're the recon specialist- point the way."

Ryder nodded. "Right." Selecting a direction, he set off at a brisk jog with Liam trailing close behind.

 _We got this._

—X—

 _We_ _ **so**_ _do not got this._

The last hour and a half had been filled with all kinds of trouble, mostly in the form of more aliens. No more than a few minutes after they'd left Fisher, they found Kirkland- and had been too late to save him from being executed by the hostile species. After killing his murderers, they'd continued on and found a plethora of advanced facilities and ruins like the structures they'd seen from the shuttles on the way in.

Funnily enough, it seemed quite different from any technology used by the aliens so far- and Ryder had come to the conclusion that maybe the aliens weren't natives as they'd originally thought. Instead, it seemed as though the Andromeda Initiative wasn't the only band of foreigners to visit Heleus.

They'd found Greer, saved him from another group of unfriendly faces, and sent him back to retrieve Fisher along with any supplies he could scrounge up. Afterwards, they'd detected an SOS transmission from Cora and the second team, and immediately left to help them. They'd been met with a heavy firefight where they'd been forced to defend against wave after wave of hostiles before the chaos slowly began to give way to quiet.

Now, Ryder panted heavily as he tried to simultaneously catch his breath while securing their position by checking their surroundings and ensuring there weren't any stragglers waiting to surprise them. Cora did the same, her chest heaving with exertion. The woman's biotic capability had been paramount to their success, and Ryder wasn't too proud to say he was a bit envious of her abilities.

Now, Dr. Carlyle was attending to Hayes, part of the Pathfinder team's security detail. She moaned in pain from a shot which had pierced her abdomen and ruptured her suit. Thankfully, the seal had been fixed- but she was still in need of medical attention.

"Did … these things … try talking to you at all?" Ryder called out to Cora, his lungs still working in overtime.

"Barely a word … then they started shooting," she replied in much of the same state as him. "What about you?"

"We tried being nice," he responded, shaking his head. "The gesture was not mutual."

 _BANG._

He immediately readied his weapon once more, thinking they were under attack again- but none came. Turning to find the source of the gunshot, he saw Liam standing over the corpse of an alien and pointing his pistol at it.

 _BANG. BANG._

"Kosta, that's enough!" Cora yelled. Liam appeared not to hear her for a moment … then he lowered the weapon.

"Right … I know. It's just …" His throat sounded tight. "These assholes killed Kirkland. They would have killed _us_ without a second thought."

Ryder was thinking less and less that Liam was mentally equipped to deal with ground operations like this. "I hear you- but this isn't the time to lose your cool. We all need to be vigilant if we're gonna make it out of this."

The man stayed quiet, though he nodded and turned back to rejoin the others.

A sudden beep from his omnitool grabbed Ryder's attention, and he lifted up his arm to see what was causing it. "Would you look at that … looks like the storm hasn't totally trashed the signal link for the comms in this sector. I've got a faint connection."

"I'm getting that too," Cora confirmed. "Try to reach your father, he went and scouted ahead for us while we tried to make repairs to our shuttle."

He nodded and tried messing with the frequencies to strengthen the signal. "SAM, are you there? Come in, SAM."

After a few seconds, a somewhat staticky- but familiar- voice emanated from the omnitool. _"QEC link established … Affirmative, Scott … Pathfinder needs … speak with you."_

A new voice replaced SAM's. _"Good to see you … one piece. What's … status?"_

He let out a sigh of relief upon hearing his father's voice. Deciphering the garbled comms as best he could, Ryder answered, "Liam and I are with Cora. We have wounded-"

"-wounded crew," Cora finished, cutting in. "We do have some good news- Hayes and I managed to repair the shuttle while you were gone. Once you get back, we can return to the Ark-"

" _Not with … storms. Too risky to fly."_

Ryder let out a sigh of frustration. "Our wounded can't wait much longer. Do you have something in mind?"

" _If the storm is … problem, then let's solve … problem."_

There were a solid three seconds of silence before Ryder decided to speak again. "… You do realize we're talking about _weather,_ right?"

" _Yes, and … have idea about that. Rendezvous … my coordinates. Pathfinder out."_

The connection was abruptly cut, much like the manner in which Alec Ryder typically left conversations; bluntly and without warning. Despite all of his father's physical and mental capabilities, Ryder couldn't help but marvel at his apparent lack of tact.

Cora instantly transitioned into tactical mindset. "Can you two manage alone?" she asked, turning towards Carlyle and Hayes.

"I can keep her stable … for a while."

The doctor's answer seemed to satisfy Cora. "Then let's move! SAM, do you have the Pathfinder's position?"

" _Marking the NAV-point on your map."_

Cora cross-checked it on her HUD. "Doesn't look far. Let's make this quick, we have to get there before the storm hits again. No detours."

" _Exercise caution. The storm front is already gaining intensity."_

Ryder groaned as he, Cora, and Liam left the shuttle to follow the NAV-point. "Nice to have you back, SAM- but how about some _good_ news next time?"

—X—

After fifteen minutes or so of trekking, they came to another alcove. There was light on the upper level of cave rock- an opening to the opposite side of a cliff. Conveniently, that was also where SAM had marked the NAV-point.

Climbing up to it, it came as no one's surprise to see Alec Ryder crouching on the edge and looking out at the other side.

"Sir!" Cora started, walking over to him. "Sir-!"

"Stay low," he ordered, holding his hand back to slow their advance. Heeding his advice, the trio mirrored his position and walked in crouching stances over to him. Once the looked over the edge, they saw why he was being so cautious.

Below them was a large tower, another of the technological marvels that this world seemed to possess- and there were patrols of those aliens guarding every foot of it. A massive lightning rod positioned near the front seemed to be drawing in any potentially dangerous strikes caused by the storm, while a large blue shield barrier had been positioned at the front, both of their design- and they barred any entry into the facility.

"Who _are_ these things?" Cora breathed, her confusion only matched by her curiosity.

"Visitors, just like us," Alec answered. "I don't think they're native to the planet."

"They're not," Ryder agreed, thinking back to his own observations from earlier. "Their technology is completely different from the structures we've seen on this planet. Whoever they are, they're not from here any more than we are."

His dad seemed to regard him with a hint of respect. "Good work. You actually did some tactical observation."

"Not like that's my job as a recon specialist, or anything …"

"Sir," Cora interrupted, not willing to listen to the bickering that had become all-too-frequent when the pair were together too long, "you said you had an idea about the weather?"

He nodded, humming with thought as he did when laying out the groundwork for a plan. "It's that dark energy cloud that hit the Hyperion, it's affecting the whole planet … and interfering with _that."_

He pointed to the a spire behind the tower, a massive blue cloud spiraling up from it and merging with the atmosphere to create a tycoon of beautiful- and dangerous- proportions.

" _The tower is caught in a feedback loop with the cloud,"_ SAM intoned. _"Together, they're disrupting the climate with undirected energy."_

"So if we can get in there and shut that tower down …"

"The lightning goes away!" Liam finished, his expression becoming more animated.

The Pathfinder nodded. "And the shuttle can get us out of here- in theory. We just have to get past _them_ …"

He pointed to the aliens once more, but Ryder wasn't sure that they were their only problem. "We're banking on science we don't really understand. What if your theory's wrong?"

" _The alternative is an eighty-five percent chance of death from lightning strike, capture, or worse."_

"Thanks, SAM. When you put it that way …"

"No illusions about this," Alec muttered grimly. "It'll be a nasty fight the whole way."

"Beats getting fried by lightning," Cora said, "but we risk turning a skirmish with these guys into something worse." It seemed that, like Ryder, she would have preferred taking the diplomatic approach to a new civilization rather than entering a war less than a day into their new home.

"It's them or us," his father argued, shaking his head.

"Oh, it's definitely _them_ alright," Liam agreed. "Problem is, we're outnumbered here."

Alec chuckled. "I've been working on that. We just need to change the _math."_

Raising his omnitool he aimed at a position near the base of the lightning rod. Ryder focused in on what he was looking at, and saw what appeared to be a remote charge rigged for detonation attached to it.

 _I see that you were pretty busy 'scouting', dad-_

He didn't have time to finish his thought as his father activated it and sent the whole rod flying apart into pieces in all directions as the explosions compromised its structural integrity and shattered it.

The aliens looked around in confusion for approximately three seconds before realizing the lack of an attractive target meant that the lightning was no longer being channeled into a safe location. A massive bolt came down and struck the shield, overloading it and triggering a secondary explosion that killed quite a large amount of hostiles and sent the survivors running.

"Let's go!" Cora ordered, seizing the opportunity the Pathfinder had given them and leaping from their ledge to join the fray below. The other three followed her lead, Cora only stopping in her advancement to allow Alec to take point.

"Push ahead to the structure!" he shouted, hoping to be heard above the noise of the lightning and gunfire. "SAM, load combat profile; biotic amp interface mode."

As they crossed the threshold of the facility, Ryder watched as his dad's body glowed purple with the light of biotic energy. It wouldn't have been so strange if not for the fact that _his dad was not a biotic._

Evidently, Cora noticed as well. "Sir-?"

"Keep moving forward!" he called, "Don't let them catch us!"

He pressed on, raising his arms to bring up a shielding barrier or throw a lance of purple at an enemy like he'd been practicing it for years. While Ryder was still shocked nonetheless, he couldn't help but think of how much more efficiently they were storming this place thanks to his father's sudden manifestation of biotics.

The other hostiles were either gone or too preoccupied with the storm to put up much of a fight, and it wasn't long before the quartet reached the top and found themselves on an open platform with seemingly nowhere to go.

Ryder spun around, looking for his father's target. His gaze set itself on what appeared to be a wall at first glance- but observation would reveal a holographic interface in the center of it.

 _A door._

Apparently, Alec thought so too. "Not over yet, I need to get through that door!"

Approaching the interface, he called out, "SAM, give me the engineer profile."

"Sir, where are you getting all these … 'profiles'?" Cora asked again, not used to her commanding officer keeping secrets from her.

"With a little help from SAM!"

"What does that mean?" Ryder questioned, just as much in the dark as she was.

"Just focus on covering me! I need to decipher this language."

Cora checked the railings of the platform. "Sir, you might want to hurry- more of them are on their way up."

" _My apologies. It's an unusually complicated syntax."_

"I can see that, SAM. Try a recursive search."

" _I will need a moment to evaluate the pattern."_

"We only _have_ a moment. Do it."

Now, the enemies were close enough to where Liam and Cora could take potshots at them. They held their positions behind two makeshift barricades on the sides of the platform, trying to hold them back.

"… _Decryption complete."_

The door began to move slightly- then a mechanical grinding could be heard as the engineering behind the door struggled to open it.

"Damn it, it's jammed! Scott, I need your help!"

"On it!" Ryder yelled, jumping into action beside his father. Together, they placed their fingers over the seams of the door which had been exposed, and began lifting the top section up to make room. Behind them, Liam and Cora continued to rain bullets down on their attackers.

"You really think we can shut this thing down?" Ryder grunted, straining with the effort of opening a door that likely hadn't been opened in a _long_ time.

"I don't know, yet," he replied honestly, finally lifting the door into a place where both he and Ryder could step through the opening. "SAM's decoded part of the language- now, we'll see if I can hold a conversation."

 _A conversation?_ "Who do you plan on talking to?"

"More like _what,"_ his father clarified. "I think it's automated."

Ryder hailed Cora and Liam over the comms. "Make your way down, and wait for us! We'll be out soon!"

" _Just hurry! We'll lead these guys away from you two, but probably not for long."_

"Understood."

He looked back up to see his father waiting for him to join him. "Come on. These are the moments that make it all worthwhile."

The two of them walked deeper into the control room. It seemed to be a rather expansive- though empty- chamber. Bright blue lights lit the ground and sides of the hallways as they traversed deeper into it. But at the end, they saw what could possibly the most mysterious thing they'd seen on the mission; a large triangular hologram hovering in the air, beckoning them closer with the light emitting from each of its sides.

Alec stepped closer. "SAM, begin translating."

" _A moment."_

"Some kind of interface …" Ryder muttered, in awe of their discovery.

" _Indexing … translation complete."_

His father sounded like he was grinning. "Let's see what we have."

Raising his hand, he extended it towards the interface and waited expectantly. It wasn't more than a few moments before another hologram appeared, this one growing from his omnitool to meet with the triangle in what appeared to be a network with the likeness of a nervous system.

Suddenly, the three points of the triangle glowed white with a blinding brilliance, and emitted a new layer of lights which all connected with each other to form an exterior outline in a show of activation.

Ryder could almost _feel_ the change as soon as it happened. The air felt less thick with the smell of ozone, less burnt from the impacts of lightning striking the ground. In a daze, he turned and exited the chamber to see for himself.

Standing outside, he looked up and saw the unbelievable- a clear sky as the clouds began to dissipate. The blue tycoon above them was no longer there, but instead began to disperse amongst the clouds and deliver its apparent healing properties to the rest of the climate.

"I'll be damned," he breathed. "It's working." He turned at the sound of his dad following suit and exiting the control room. "You did it!"

"There's hope, at least," his father answered modestly, though he could detect a smirk of satisfaction on the older man's face.

"This is more than hope- it's proof we weren't crazy," Ryder laughed, gesturing to the sky. "We can fly to a whole new galaxy and still make sense of things."

"SAM had a little something to do with it," Alec admitted, shrugging.

" _It was simply a matter of linguistics, though I am pleased to have-"_

A sudden noise behind them caught Ryder's attention, and he turned to see what it was. Not a second went by before some massive blue cloud came bursting out of the structure and blasted him and his father directly.

The force of it was too overpowering, and he felt himself get blown backwards towards the edge of the platform. He tried vainly to claw at the floor for a handhold- but he was going too fast, and he found himself flying off the edge and into open air.

 _What the hell is happening?_

He couldn't make sense of the spinning world around him until it abruptly came to a halt and he landed hard on his back. He heard a noise like shattering glass, and his head was pounding from its impact against what felt like rocky ground beneath him.

He tried to take a deep breath in, and immediately regretted it. He felt a rush of toxic air filling his throat and sinuses, peppering his skin with needle-like pricks of pain all over the sensitive muscle. Opening his eyes, he saw that his faceplate was no longer just broken- it was nonexistent. A few edges of the glass along the sides and rim of the helmet's structure were all that remained to show that there had once been protection there.

 _No amount of omnigel is going to fix that._

Not that it mattered anyway- he'd used his last reserves of omnigel to fix the crack in it before from the first fall. Now, there was nothing to fix- it was just a waiting game to see how long he could last before the atmosphere killed him.

As he choked and coughed, trying desperately not to breathe in but failing as the gases of the air overwhelmed him, he saw an orange light approaching through teary eyes. Limping over to him was his father, raising his omnitool up to his mouth and yelling into it.

"Repeat, we need an emergency extraction _now!"_

" _They're spinning up the shuttle- ETA is three, maybe four minutes!"_

Ryder was still lucid enough to recognize the voice of Cora- as well as recognize that there was no way he'd make it even two minutes in this environment.

Evidently, his father thought the same thing. Kneeling down beside his son, he seemed to give pause.

"… We don't have that long."

Without warning, he heard the pop of seals releasing as his helmet was removed and replaced with another. He blinked rapidly, trying to focus his vision so he could see what was going on- and he was greeted with the sight of his helmetless father.

"W-What are y-you-?"

"Deep breaths!" Alec ordered, his own face now contorting in pain as the chemicals in the air began to attack him instead. Raising his omnitool, he began to input commands into it.

" _Initiating transfer."_

Ryder desperately tried to remain conscious, to stay awake so he could help his father- but the atmosphere had already taken its toll on him. His hearing was filled with the sound of ringing, and his father mouthed instructions to him that he could no longer understand as they became no more than muffled white noise. The world became darker … darker … darker …

Black.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner, but I had a list of other projects to attend to. I hope the length of this chapter makes up for it.**_


	4. Convergence

_Everywhere I look, there's disease or someone injured. I knew life outside the Port was bad, but this is worse than I expected._

 _It's the perfect place for me to atone._

 _Hate is a useless emotion. As is regret. We must make the best of our situation- that's all._

 _ **\- Dr. Ryota Nakamoto, human exile on Kadara**_

* * *

 _Burning blackness, bright blue lights …_

 _Everything pulsing, waving, rending, tearing …_

 _A cold inferno sweeping through his mind-_

" _Welcome back, Scott."_

The blackness that had encompassed him before began to gently ebb away, and his surroundings grew in clarity and focus. His head still pounding, he made an effort to sit up from where he'd been lying down, and grimaced from the pain of doing so- but there was no time to focus on that now.

"Where … where am I?"

" _You are in the SAM node on the Hyperion."_

The SAM node? How had he gotten here from Habitat 7? He needed to find his-

 _Dad._

The memories of what had transpired when he'd last been conscious began to manifest in sharp and painful detail. He remembered choking on toxic fumes until he passed out, his father taking off his helmet and placing it over him instead …

"Wh-What happened?"

" _You were clinically dead for twenty-two seconds."_

 _Priorities first._

"D-Did the rest of the team make it?" he asked, coughing into his hand while doing so. When he looked at it, he saw blood.

SAM didn't answer, but he didn't really have to- Ryder noticed Liam standing up in front of him. It was then that he began to take more notes of his immediate environment- SAM was right, they _were_ in the SAM node, and a makeshift medical bed had been set up for him here. Liam had been sitting near the edge of it, but had become aware of Ryder talking as he woke up.

"Hey, you're still with us!" he exclaimed, his voice equal parts humor and genuine relief. He raised his omnitool to his mouth and ordered, "Guys, get to the SAM node! Ryder's awake!"

For his part, Ryder continued his efforts to sit up straight, each tiny movement only exacerbating the pain he felt in his head. Liam stepped closer and held his hands up. "Whoa, take it easy. Nice and slow. Who were you talking to?"

"Who … ? Uh, SAM," Ryder answered, his mental faculties not quite at their peak condition.

"I didn't hear him," Liam remarked quizzically in a tone that suggested he didn't fully believe Ryder, but wasn't about to question him.

The sound of footsteps came from the entrance to the SAM node as both Cora and Lexi rushed in to assist. Cora seemed relieved, but … there was another expression on her face which Ryder couldn't quite place yet.

"You're up," she breathed simply.

"Look here and here," Lexi ordered, bringing up the calibration scanner from when he'd first woken up again.

He brought his hand up and brushed the device away, intent on getting more answers. "My father … where …?"

He had no doubts of the answer he was about to receive, but he had to ask. The sudden somber expressions that overtook all three of his visitors' faces confirmed his suspicions.

"It was your life or his," Cora supplied quietly. "And he chose you. I'm sorry, Scott … I know this must be a shock, everything happening so quickly …"

 _My father is dead._

He came to terms with the news a lot more easily than he would have expected, feeling more numb than anything else. Ironically, he knew that his dad would have expected nothing less from his son- to compartmentalize and focus on the task at hand rather than giving into his emotions. That was the N7 way.

Cora noticed his silence, and gave him a pained look. "He once said that when his time came, he wanted to go out among stars that no one had seen before."

He was appreciative of her attempt to comfort him, but it was only making him feel worse. There'd be time for mourning later- for now, he needed to focus on something else if he didn't want to end up wallowing in his grief.

"What are we doing in the SAM node?"

Lexi placed her hand on her chin, her face taking on a more thoughtful- and frustrated- expression. "SAM is now a part of you … in a way we don't entirely understand. It played havoc with your brain."

"SAM?" Ryder questioned incredulously, not quite sure what she meant by saying the AI had been the cause of his nervous system's breakdown.

" _Your father authorized the transfer of Pathfinder authority to you."_

… _What._

He was the Pathfinder? No, no, this was wrong … that wasn't his job-

"Hang on … I thought Cora was second-in-command, shouldn't that be _her_ position?" he stammered, trying to make sense of the new realization he'd suddenly been thrust into.

"In theory," Cora answered quietly, her tone becoming less warm and comforting. "In reality … you're the new Pathfinder, Scott."

It was only after she'd finished speaking that he was finally able to place the subtle expression on her face; _envy_. She'd been lined up to be the leader of humanity in the event that his father had died … and instead, that responsibility had gone to him.

 _I'm the Pathfinder._

 **2 Hours Later, The Nexus**

"Did you hear that control is reporting an Ark has docked?"

"The Scourge is constantly scrambling our sensors, just give it a few minutes- I guarantee it's another glitch in the system."

Vetra tried to tune out the conversation and focus on her current task- negotiating with a source on Kadara to acquire potential supplies the Nexus could use- but she was finding it difficult due to the fact that she couldn't help but find herself interested in the prospect as well.

Personally, she was in agreement with the second voice- time and time again, their hopes had risen and then been dashed whenever news concerning the Arks began to circulate around the station. Still, a small part of her had to hold out hope that maybe _this_ time would be the one.

After all, hope had been what she'd clung onto for years- taking on all sorts of jobs to keep herself and Sid fed, trying to keep her sister safe … none of it would be worth if if you couldn't hold onto a little hope that at some point, everything would be alright-

" _All docking stations, teams need to be on immediate alert. The Hyperion has arrived, repeat, the Hyperion has arrived."_

 _Well, would you look at that._

"You heard the call, people," she yelled out, standing up from her table and turning to face the room at large. "Let's move! I mean it, move it! Move it!"

Her voice commanded attention, and carried the weight of the authority she held- maybe not as a high ranking official, but certainly as a vital member of the crew that they'd all come to rely on due to her … _unorthodox_ methods. Their movements became energetic and enthusiastic as they set to work on preparing for the newcomers' arrival.

As luck would have it, she knew that the _Hyperion_ was the human Ark. Nowhere near as combat oriented as the turians, nor as physically capable as the biotic asari, and forget about any human matching a salarian in intelligence- but they did have the minds of innovators. Curiosity was their weapon, and they wielded it with pride.

 _Explorers are what we need right now, not soldiers or scientists. We couldn't have asked for a better Ark._

Still, the presence of the _Hyperion_ was going to complicate matters in a number of ways. For starters, there would be the question of how to migrate so many new people onto the Nexus. In the short-term, the _Hyperion_ could share its supplies and able-bodies and raise morale all around- but in the long term, they'd just run out of resources faster and have even more mouths to feed unless thing started looking up _real_ soon.

Then there was the question of leadership. The last thing anyone on the Nexus needed was a power struggle between whoever was running things on the _Hyperion_ and Director Tann- the thought of that egotistical salarian remaining in control made her shudder uncomfortably, but now was not the time to shake up the chain of command.

And speaking of a power fluctuation … what would happen when she met the Pathfinder? She wasn't a huge team player, never had been- the closest she'd gotten to that was her current position, leading half a docking team by essentially giving orders and keeping to herself most of the time. Being a lone wolf had its perks, and she wasn't sure that she'd be allowed to keep those perks if whoever she was working for didn't approve of her particular process.

 _That doesn't matter right now- what_ _ **does**_ _matter is getting a spot on that ship._

The bottom line was that she'd have to put her reservations on hold for the time being. She'd been waiting for this moment for a long while, planning how best to secure a crew position on the Pathfinder's team. If she was there, it meant she could have a personal hand in helping carve the way for colonization in Heleus, helping to … atone for her past. The problem was that the team composition was supposed to be up to the Pathfinder themselves, but Tann would likely insist on having a say in the matter … and Tann was _not_ a fan of hers.

If they ended up having to report to Tann, she'd need them fighting to keepher _on_ the ship, not off of it. So that meant she had to be likable enough to where she'd be allowed to stick around after the Pathfinder found out she wasn't technically supposed to bethere.

She'd been planning how to weasel her way onto the Pathfinder team for a good year now; she was relatively sure that her combat skills and network of resource suppliers would be enough to warrant her useful as a crew member when the time came to make her move. Trying to keep them from realizing _how_ she'd come to make those connections with suppliers would be a bit more difficult.

For now, she'd play by whatever rules they wanted- so long as she made it onto the damn ship.

As if on cue, she saw a notification wink into existence on her omnitool; an order for the vessel to be brought out of the storage hangar where it had been left to its lonesome for the past year. If it hadn't been for her, it would have been dismantled for parts by Tann and Addison months ago- but Vetra had stubbornly argued that a Pathfinder would need it once they came, and did everything in her power to overload them with bureaucracy to keep them from being able to order its decommissioning.

That was another point in her favor for making it onto the crew, but one against her if it came to a head with Tann overseeing who was allowed to remain onboard. In any case, it was a moot point- if she hadn't done it, there wouldn't _be_ a ship for her to serve on in the first place. Going against the Nexus leadership had been the only chance she'd had of even hoping she could see a Pathfinder team in action, let alone be part of it.

She'd played her cards- now, it was time to see what her payout was.

—X—

" _Okay … but you said every planet you found is unlivable," he spoke slowly to the salarian. "So, how do I …?"_

" _A_ _ **good**_ _Pathfinder would relish the challenge of solving it," the director replied with a hint of smugness. Now, Ryder could see his game._

" _And if I fail, I guess it's no sweat off your back, right? You'll just look for another Pathfinder?"_

 _Tann's narrowed his beady eyes at him, a task that Ryder didn't think was possible with how opposed the salarian already seemed to be towards the idea of having him as Pathfinder. "Placing bets on people is part of my job. Some of them pay off, while others …" The subtle threat was left unfinished._

 _Ryder crossed his arms, in no mood to be a part of the director's games. "The way I see it, you need me. If I pull this off, maybe you'll look like the leader you pretend to be."_

 _Tann's mouth curled slightly into a wolfish grin, though his eyes continued to glare at Ryder coolly._

" _But first, you have to succeed at being the Pathfinder_ _ **you**_ _pretend to be."_

The whole experience of meeting the Nexus leadership had left a bad taste in his mouth, but having to deal with Tann had easily been the worst of it. At least the krogan leader, Nakmor Kesh, didn't seem to think he was a total waste of space- but Foster Addison and Jarun Tann seemed to think it would have been better if his father had let him die on Habitat 7.

The three of them oversaw engineering, colonial affairs, and the Initiative's general operations, respectively- then there was Tiran Kandros, who was in charge of the Nexus militia. None of them had been expecting him, a twenty-two year old recon specialist, in place of his grizzled N7 father- but at least the turian and krogan were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Addison and Tann were trying to throw him under the bus at the first opportunity- a fact that he'd been made painfully aware of once he'd gone into Tann's office to 'discuss'.

The following meeting had been so unpleasant that Ryder was still fuming about it now, when he should have been focused on watching where he was going. Cora turned around as he accidentally bumped into her, and fixed him with an inquisitive eyebrow. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I just … yeah," he answered, opting not to sound like he was whining by complaining to her about the salarian. Tann had one thing right- if he was going to be a good Pathfinder, he needed to be seeing challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles. "So … where is it?"

Cora beckoned him to follow her down to the docking bay from the common area whilst checking her omnitool. "Should be coming around any second now-"

The roar of engines screaming through the air brought both of their attention to bear. Descending from the air above was a massive scout ship, sleek in its design unlike any other ship that he'd personally seen in its same class- it looked more like a massive fighter jet than a frigate. Though the majority of its coloring was white, it had black highlighting as well as red accents which ran from the stern to the engines on its underside.

He had to admit- Tann hadn't skimped out on the ship when it came to the Pathfinder team.

"They call her the _Tempest,"_ Cora remarked, her face shining with as much excitement as his own. The two of them watched as it gently made touchdown with the landing pad, its ramp lowering and then extending to allow entry. Dock workers were already waiting with loaded arms and boxes to move onto the ship, and they began filing into it in earnest.

"Let's go take a closer look," he suggested, stepping away from their viewing spot to approach it. Cora trailed close behind, waiting on his word for how to proceed.

Ryder still felt bad about her predicament; by all accounts, including his, she _should_ have been made the Pathfinder. The only reason she hadn't been was because it had been _him_ down there dying next to his father, and not _her._ It made him feel even more inadequate, if that was possible at this point- being the product of a split decision rather than a calculated one based on his expertise was as much his ideal fate as much as being shunted out of leadership had been Cora's.

Hopefully, he'd be able to patch their now somewhat strained relationship- but for now, he'd let her have her space and just be content to have her willingly follow him.

"Let's pick it up a bit, people, we're fourteen months late!"

He heard a warbled voice calling out to the other dock workers at the base of the _Tempest,_ instantly recognizing it as a turian's. He looked away from the ship itself to see who was leading the task of preparing the scout ship for launch.

"Hey- are you the lead officer?"

Vetra heard an unfamiliar voice call out to her, and turned around from her spot on the ramp to see two humans in Initiative garb walking towards the ship. Her initial thought was that they were curious individuals from the common area coming to take a look at the spectacle- but then the more likely possibility of why anyone would be coming to speak with her became more apparent- they were from the Pathfinder team.

She began to walk back down the ramp to formally greet the man who'd addressed her, and his partner, a woman who seemed to be a bit older than him with bleach-blonde hair. She certainly seemed to have the look of an experienced soldier more than he did, and would likely be the superior of the two.

"So, you're the one who's making everything happen." She finally reached the pair, and extended her hand.

To her surprise, it was the _guy_ who grasped it with his own and shook it, not the woman. "In a sense … and you would be?"

Then she took note of the way the way the man held himself- tall and straight, a bit of a stiffness to his earlier gait that suggested it wasn't normally there- there'd been a weight of responsibility recently placed on him.

 _Oh, spirits. He's the Pathfinder._

Instantly, she changed her demeanor to match the new circumstances. "Vetra, Vetra Nyx. Initiative wrangler, provisioner, gunner, and everything in between."

He nodded in acknowledgement of the proper introduction. "Name's Ryder, and this is Cora Harper. We're from the Pathfinder team, but you probably figured that out already."

Vetra noticed that he'd given her Cora's first name, but not his own. _He's still wary of me. Gotta make a good impression._

She looked him up and down. "You look a little young for a Pathfinder."

… _Did I actually just say that? In what world does that equate to 'good impression'?_

Unexpectedly, she saw the corners of his lips tug upwards. "Well, seems to me that you don't really have any other Pathfinders to compare me against." His expression then became a bit more stony. "But yes, I didn't exactly come into this position under the most … ideal circumstances."

 _Shit. Shit. Shit._

Things were spiraling apart fast- first, she'd made the wrong assumption of which of them had been the leader. Then, she'd made an indirect comment on his inexperience as a Pathfinder. She couldn't have made a worse impression even if she'd proclaimed at the top of her lungs that she'd secretly smuggled geth aboard the Nexus.

 _Have to think fast._

"Sorry to hear that," she apologized, nodding her head in a show of sympathy. Then she gestured towards the ship. "Are we ready? The sooner we get out of here, the better."

Ryder's eyebrows raised in curiosity. "You're coming with us?"

"Yes," she replied curtly, "otherwise there's no way they're letting this ship off the station."

 _Not technically a lie. Nexus leadership would require you to have someone of my skillset on board- but Tann would have a fit if he knew it was me._

"What's the rush?" he inquired, obviously sensing something was up. She could already tell that trying to hide anything about her line of work from this guy was going to be a pain in the ass.

"Just don't want to waste any more time," she answered, turning to walk up the ramp and hoping against hope that the two would accept the answer and follow.

 _Also, I don't want to get caught snaking my way onto the Pathfinder's ship._

Thankfully, she heard the sound of footsteps as the two humans apparently decided her response was good enough, and began to accompany her up the ramp-

"Hold it! Hold it, you're not going anywhere!"

"Damn it," she muttered under her breath, hanging her head in disappointment. She'd been _this_ close…

"What's wrong?" Ryder asked, instantly on alert. The dock worker who'd stopped them from proceeding approached the ramp and held up a data pad. "Director Addison wants to see a complete report of the _Tempest's_ supplies, munitions, and crew."

 _Great. Another one of the leadership's petty squabbles._

It seemed like nothing could ever get done quickly with the Nexus leadership; all four of them were constantly undermining the others, refusing to agree with one another- and it seemed like Addison was rearing to go for a round with Tann right about now.

What was even more worrying was that Addison wanted a crew report- if Vetra was listed on there, and Tann managed to see the official documentation …

"Director Tann overruled Addison," Ryder argued, furrowing his brow. He seemed just as annoyed at the delay as she was, though likely for different reasons.

"The ship's loaded out with equipment for outpost discovery, squarely under Director Addison's purview-"

"Seen you around," Vetra interrupted, stepping between Ryder and Cora. "Ben, right?"

The two seemed confused at the turian's sudden appearance in the dispute, but chose to watch what she did for now. She hated doing this, especially right in front of them- it'd be a clear warning sign to them of the kind of work she was used to carrying out on the Nexus. But if she wanted to get the _Tempest_ off the pad ASAP, this was the only option.

"Came here with a family, didn't you?" she asked, setting a hand on the man's shoulder and leading him off the ramp. "Son still in cryo? I could pull some strings, get him to the front of the line …" She trailed off, letting him finish the thought on his own- it was always better to let the client think what they wanted rather than giving them a direct guarantee of the end result.

His eyes widened in shock. "R-Really?"

"Yeah. Really."

Ben paused, thinking over what she'd just told him was possible. "They told me he wasn't essential, but … I miss him."

"I know," she said, nodding in sympathy. "I've got family too, Ben."

 _One of the few genuine things I've said today._

Another few seconds went by before he scrolled through the data pad and signed off on several documents. "… It's done." He sighed. "Addison is going to kill me …"

With one final pat of reassurance, she stepped away from him and walked back to the _Tempest's_ ramp. Ryder eyed her with a mix of awe as well as caution. "Nicely done."

"All part of the job, Pathfinder," she said, feeling his analytical gaze on her. She was sure he was thankful the delay was gone- but probably viewed the way she'd gotten rid of it in a different light. "All things considered, it was an easy ask."

As she stepped past the two of them, a thought came to her, and she turned around to face them. "And right now, you need people tearing _down_ obstacles, not putting up more."

She spun around once more with an air of nonchalance, but heard Cora whisper quietly behind her, _"Finally, someone who cares about_ _ **doing**_ _the job instead of just talking about it."_

 _Bingo._

With that line, hopefully she'd shown Ryder that she was someone who he could come to rely upon when it came to dealing with the tiresome tit-for-tat of the Nexus leadership. Sure, maybe it would mean a bit of extra work on her part- but it might also mean she'd just ensured her place her amongst the crew of the _Tempest._

Holding onto hope had gotten her this far- only time would tell how much farther it would take her.

* * *

 _ **A/N: If you guys like what you see, please leave a review below- seeing your guys thoughts and feedback always motivates me to write more.**_

 _ **Until the next time,**_

 _ **\- Matteoarts**_


	5. Departure

"… Your quarters are below. Plenty of space up here to get everyone together."

Vetra gestured to the wide space of the meeting room, a circular area with a central holo-table equipped with a QEC. She and Ryder walked over to the balcony that overlooked the research center.

"It's all yours. She's light, stealthy, and the fastest ship in her class."

For the last fifteen minutes or so, she'd taken the Pathfinder on a tour of the new vessel now under his command- both the ship and officers alike. So far, he'd been rather quiet, opting to simply nod in acknowledgement to show he was listening. While it made the tour go by faster, it put her on edge a bit. Had he really been _that_ put off by her manipulative display with Ben?

He grasped the railing of the balcony with both hands, looking out at the window that let in starlight, and sighed heavily.

"I can't believe this is really happening."

"It wouldn't be if it wasn't for you," she said with a smirk. Yes, she was trying to flatter him, to butter him up to her- but it was the truth. Before the _Hyperion_ had arrived, the chance that Tann would have approved such an operation was about as slim as a quarian hugging a geth.

Surprisingly, he shook his head. "No … it wasn't me."

She cocked her head to the side ever so slightly. "What do you mean?"

His mouth set in a thin line. "Never mind."

 _Okay, touchy subject._ She'd make sure not to tread near that one again.

He turned to look at her, this time with an inquisitive expression. "So … about that whole, 'I can get your son out of cryo' thing."

 _Damn it._

She knew exactly where this was going; he was going to ask too many questions, and she'd end up having to come clean about her less-than-pleasant origins-

"Did you mean it?"

Her thought process screeched to a halt as she heard what he said, and blinked in response. "What?"

"About getting his son out of cryo," he clarified. "Did you mean it?"

She was somewhat taken aback by the oddity of his question, but replied after a moment's hesitation, "Of course."

He nodded, seemingly accepting that answer, then turned back to the window. "Alright."

The seconds ticked on in silence. Eventually, she coughed awkwardly. "When you're ready to fly, head over to the bridge. Our pilot should have everything good to go."

Leaving the conversation at that, she spun around and made her way over to the ramp that led downstairs. She could feel her heart pounding, her stress peaking after thinking she'd almost been found out. Mostly, she felt relieved that it seemed she was here to stay- at least for a bit longer.

But a small part nagged at her, refusing to let the abnormality of his question go. He hadn't questioned what she'd done, not exactly anyway- he'd just wanted to make sure she hadn't lied to Ben.

She'd told the truth, she had already sent the orders to her contacts via omnitool for his kid to be made a priority. Sure, it might ruffle a few feathers- but it'd get done.

 _He wants to know if he can trust me._

The thought hit her suddenly and without mercy- he wanted to ensure that she was good on her word. She'd effectively given him a sales pitch of her skills, and he needed to know that it wasn't all talk, especially if he was going to keep her around as a crew member.

 _Well, mister Pathfinder, I hope that I've shown you that I'm someone you want on this ship._

She walked back to the bridge, feeling a tad more secure in her spot on the crew and grinning smugly.

 _I can do this._

…

 _I don't know if I can do this._

Ryder swallowed hard as he watched Vetra's retreating back. He thought he'd been ready to take on his dad's role of leadership- but that was before the turian had shown him exactly what he was responsible for.

 _Who_ he was responsible for.

There were the members of the ground team, Liam and Cora for starters. They were the only ones of the original group who had decided to stay with him; the others, Fisher, Hayes, Carlyle … they'd all quit after Habitat 7.

He wasn't sure he blamed them, not after what went down there; he just wished he knew whether it was because of what they'd gone through, or whether it was because of what they _might_ go through with him leading them.

There was Lexi, who had taken over as the team medic after Carlyle had left. Then there were the new faces; Gil Brodie, the ship's engineer (and as Vetra had described him, an all-round 'wrench jockey'), and the pilots, Suvi Anwar and Kallo Jath. The latter was a salarian that embodied nearly the complete opposite of Tann- instead of a domineering, power-hungry leader, he was a meek, quiet-spoken introvert, not at all like other salarians he'd met.

All of them were part of the crew- _his_ crew, now. Which meant that, not only did they look to him for guidance, but they looked to him for _safety._ Their lives were in his hands now, and he wasn't sure he was quite ready for that level of responsibility.

He'd led teams before, outposts guarding a mass-effect relay mostly. But there had never been any real danger aside from the stray batarian pirate or two that harassed them. Out here, in Andromeda? Everything was an unknown, and there was no telling where danger might be lurking. Hell, even _space_ wasn't safe with the Scourge, the mysterious deadly mass of dark energy that the _Hyperion_ had hit, hanging around.

He sighed, using his omnitool to pull up the ship's roster and scan over the faces of his crew's profiles. These were people who were counting on him, and maybe not all of them would see this mission through to the end. Was he ready to have their deaths on his conscience, if it came to that?

Well, maybe not _all_ of their deaths.

He noted the absence of a certain 'Vetra Nyx' from the roster. Tann had given him the list of crew he'd be commanding when he'd first decided to send Ryder to Eos, the first potential living site to be claimed for the Initiative. Strangely, there was no mention of her whatsoever, nor _any_ turian for that matter.

That left two options- either Tann had somehow messed up the document, a possibility that Ryder _highly_ doubted, given the perfectionist attitude the salarian seemed to ooze from every pore … or Vetra wasn't supposed to be here, and she knew it.

The other crew seemed to know her, having called out to her in greeting as they'd toured the ship. But if it wasn't as a crew member … just who _was_ she to these people?

He thought about how to proceed. On the one hand, she clearly hadn't been handpicked by Tann for this mission like the others had. That meant that she and her skills were an unknown- for all he knew, having her onboard might very well jeopardize everything.

On the other hand … technically, the Pathfinder had complete jurisdiction over who was and wasn't a part of the team. Which meant it was up to _him_ as to whether or not she could stay.

He debated his options- keeping her on might piss off Tann, though he wasn't entirely sure that wasn't a pro rather than a con. Kicking her off might appease the salarian dictator, but it would also firmly solidify Ryder's position as his lapdog.

After a few moments of careful thought, he thumbed through the tabs and added a slot for a new crew member. He searched through the list of the Ark's registered population until he came across 'Vetra Nyx', and added her information to the according data fields.

She could stay, for now. If she became a problem, however … well, Tann would be the least of her worries.

…

"I'll be piloting the Tempest at your word. Quite the ship! But it'll take a Pathfinder's guidance to see us through Heleus."

Ryder nodded to Kallo. "Plenty of dangers out there, but I'll do my best to avoid them."

"That's reassuring," the pilot said with obvious relief. "Wouldn't want to lose my finest work to that angry cloud."

He'd gone to the bridge to see for himself just how command would be structured here on the Tempest. Kallo had insisted in greeting him, and Ryder wasn't going to pass up seeing a rare moment of excitement from the shy salarian.

"I was test pilot for the Tempest's early prototypes," Kallo continued, turning around and walking towards the main viewport while gesturing for Ryder to follow him. "I admit, I'm itching to see how she performs out here."

Both took a minute to appreciate the view- from here, the Tempest's dock overlooked a large section of the Ark's population centers; trees and buildings could be seen standing in peaceful tranquility while people strolled through their shade, spoke with one another, laughed with one another.

 _All of_ them _are counting on me too._

He coughed, and waved his hand at the control console before him. "So, how do I …?"

"The console syncs with your implant," Kallo explained. "Just swipe, touch a destination here, and the NAV system calculates everything. _Very_ efficient."

"It was optimized for a Pathfinder."

The two of them turned around to see Liam, and Cora standing behind them, the latter of which had spoken. Before he could say anything in response, the bridge door opened and Vetra jogged in.

"Everything's secure, if you're ready."

Liam gave a small snort. "Is _anyone_ ready for something this big?"

"We have to be."

All three looked at Ryder in surprise at his immediate answer- and none of them were surprised more than he was. He'd given the reply without hesitation, without doubt; and it was true. For the sake of everyone onboard the Ark, everyone who had given up their past to make new lives here in Andromeda, they had to be ready.

 _He_ had to be ready.

Kallo gave a nod of support, then left Ryder's side to pass through the group of bystanders that had formed behind them. "Excuse me, excuse me …"

"Command access is transferring successfully," Cora stated, checking over Ryder's authorization with her omnitool.

"Science and monitoring stations look fine," Suvi muttered in concentration from the left side of the bridge. "Lexi is reporting in …"

"Helm is green!" Kallo called out from the right, having finally made it back to his seat. "Gil reports the drive core is online."

There was a moment's pause before Cora quietly said, "This is it, Ryder. The Tempest is yours … unless you've got something to say, for the log?"

He hadn't thought about that at all. Truthfully, he would have rather preferred to just remain silent on the whole matter- but now everyone was staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to share some sacred words of Pathfinder wisdom.

The more he thought about it, however, the more he realized that there _was_ something that needed to be said. This was a moment that others of future generations would look back on, the moment when they stopped _surviving_ and started _living._ And if anything needed to be said … it was this.

"I never planned to be Pathfinder. I don't know what's out there."

There wasn't some tale of confidence he could spin, some lie that he knew what he was doing- he wanted to give the truth, and nothing but. "I don't know if I can make any of the golden worlds livable again. I don't even know if I'm the right person to be Pathfinder."

He turned around and faced his crew head-on. "What I _do_ know, is that it doesn't matter. I _am_ the Pathfinder, we _will_ make the golden worlds livable again, and no matter _what's_ out there, be it the Kett or the Scourge, we will fight until our last breath for the lives aboard this station, and all the lives of those to come."

He spun about, facing the viewport again. "We can do this."

There was a stunned silence that followed on the bridge for a minute or so, no one quite sure how to respond to such a speech. Eventually, Kallo coughed and thumbed his comms. "Nexus Control, this is the Tempest- ident two-five, two-seven, prepping to depart."

The ship's hull rumbled and hummed as the engines roared to life. Slowly, the dock beneath them grew farther away as they lifted up into the air, and began flying towards the station's main hangar.

" _Departure vector verified, Tempest. Godspeed, Pathfinder."_


End file.
